The Violence of "Gentlemen's Children": How John Reed's Abuse Reflects Real-World Hatred
Loading...
Authors
Scott, Elizabeth
Issue Date
2025-04-03
Type
Language
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
Description
One of the most striking parts of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre is how it begins. In one of
the book's earliest scenes, we witness our protagonist, a 10-year-old Jane Eyre, have a large book
flung at her by her older cousin, John Reed, and hit so hard she begins to bleed, all for the oh so
heinous crime of reading in the family library. The scene thrives in being shocking but not
gratuitous and sets the tone of the overall story, it tells our audience that this is a story where the
heroine has to lose before she can win. However, the overall story of *Jane Eyre* is not what is
to be discussed here, rather the focus of this essay is John Reed himself, more specifically his
hatred for his cousin and how it can be compared to the hatred we see outside of books and there
are quite a few similarities. Namely, John Reed's prejudice against Jane is similar to real world
prejudice in that it is reactive, it is socialized, and it is violent.